Day: August 11, 2008

This past weekend was cool and quite pleasant – a welcome change from the 90+ degree weather we had had up to that point.

When the weather turns cooler and the air becomes fresh and crisp, I CRAVE camping. There is nothing more relaxing and comfortable as lounging outside your camper door around a campfire and roasting marshmallows while enjoying family time. Seriously, nothing.

At least, in my world.

So, I made more camping reservations. We’ll be camping in Branson again (we love Branson – mainly because it’s only 45 minutes from home and the country is so pretty down there) at Cooper Creek over Labor Day weekend; we’ll take off as soon as the boys get out of school on Friday and come back Labor Day. We’ve camped at Cooper Creek several times before and though we’re not entirely crazy about the bathrooms (which is a major issue when we camp because come on, how fun is it to take a showers with spiders?), we love where the campground is situated – right off the Taneycomo lake. So, we’ll likely do a little fishing (well, when I say “we”, I really mean the guys will fish and I will sit around and read), feast on some awesome beef stew (cooked in the Crockpot – Crockpot food is PERFECT for camping) and count the stars.

*Sigh* I’m already more relaxed just thinking about it.

The husband and I went searching for a new microwave yesterday. The one in our camper sort of fried – and I mean that literally. The little computer just went berserk and it wouldn’t respond to any commands. And then, while we least expected it, it would DING and start up, for no apparent reason and without provocation.

It was sort of freaky, if you want the truth.

We discovered our microwave was possessed this past camping trip. And we were QUITE bummed that we were unable to pop popcorn to eat while watching our movie (don’t look at me like that – a microwave is ESSENTIAL to a successful camping trip *grin*). So, we bought a cheap microwave at Wally World and the hubs monkey-rigged it into the space in our camper. So now, we’ll be able to chow down on popcorn and watch movies! Maybe this time, the weather will be cool enough we can watch movies outside – that’s always fun. (And our camping neighbors REALLY love when we do that. *snort*)

This photo is neither here nor there; I just discovered it on one of our camera cards this past weekend and thought my facial expression was funny. Apparently, I have the same “deer caught in headlight look” and tight-lipped expression when I read, too. The husband is constantly teasing me about it.

If you look closely, you can see GD in the background “pretending” not to watch the movie with us. We were watching Spiderwick, which I thought was pretty cute, considering.

And please, no smart comments about my peace shirt. I LIKE my peace shirt, thankyouverymuch. 😀

In other news …

My nephews spent the night with our boys Friday night. The younger boys pooped out about 1ish, the older boys stayed up until 4ish.

They spent every waking moment playing games, of course. Though there was a curious little distraction that I thought was quite ….. odd.

MK likes plush toys. He has a small collection of Nintendo plush toys that he will periodically sleep with and/or pull out and role play with. (A sign of his immaturity, in my opinion. Though I don’t know, I “played” with my barbies until I was 15 – but we’re not talking about me here. *wink*)

So, all of the boys pulled those plushies out, used our old video camera and proceeded to film a random skit using those plushie dolls. They filmed at various points in the house, assuming high-pitched voices personifying the characters and shot a bunch of short video stories.

What I found odd about this whole thing was that an almost 18-year old and a 16-year old would think this was amusing.

But judging by their laughter, I’m assuming it was.

They spent the remainder of Saturday afternoon, inputting it in some video software and trying to make the audio card work. I suppose I could look at the episode as their curiosity to play around with production options, but I don’t know, I still think it was odd for them to run around the house assuming Nintendo characters.

Perhaps they were truly bored. *shrug* At any rate, I think I need to get my boys out more. *grin*

(I tried to take a picture of them while they were role playing, but they would catch sight of me every time and stop their actions, their facial expressions tight, pinched and self-conscious. It’s too bad, because it was really funny to watch).

In other news …

Motivated by my boys’ odd behavior this past weekend, I coaxed them into making banana bread with me last night. Though I abhor cooking myself, I wanted to the boys to participate for two reasons:

1. I got to spend time with them

and

2. I wanted to start the ball rolling on teaching them everyday, mundane, real-life skills.

If the experience taught me anything it was this: I could never, in a hundred million years, homeschool my children.

Ever. As in NEVER.

The experience only reinforced what I’ve known my entire adult life – I simply do not have the patience required to teach ANYTHING for long term.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, we had a good time – the boys laughed and goofed off, much to my annoyance. Yes, I laughed along with them, and there was much eye-rolling, but overall, it drove me crazy to stand back and supervise when I was ITCHING to just take over and do it myself.

Clearly, I have issues I need to work through.

We divided the duties up so that both boys would have a chance to do something. GD broke and divided the egg yolks from the whites (which they thought was uber-cool because you and I both know egg whites looks like clumpy snot), mashed up the bananas (which was also fun because you know, they could ANNILHATE something), and put in the sugar and oil.

While GD was busy doing his part, I gave MK a camera and he took “action” shots.

Remind me to give the boys a camera more often. When I went back and looked at the photos … OMG! I thought I was going to bust a rib I was laughing so much. It’s so much fun to “see” through a kid’s eyes.

Here is a slideshow of my favorites:

[rockyou id=120019186&w=426&h=320]

The bread turned out really good. The boys were pretty proud of themselves and quite triumphant until I told them that next time? They were on their own. 🙂

By the way, the banana bread recipe came from the “New Dieter’s Cook Book” and is only 125 calories, 4 g of fat and 0 mg of cholesterol per serving. (Of course, MY definition of what a serving is is pretty broad *grin*). Here’s the recipe if you would like it:

He’s wanted a phone/PDA/MP3 player phone for like, EVER. Though he did seriously think about buying an iPhone, in the end, he simply couldn’t justify paying $80+ dollars a month for service. So, he shopped around and settled on an HTC Touch Phone. His monthly plan is the minimum ($35 dollars a month) and it does everything he wants it to. He’s very, very, VERY happy and I’m very, very, VERY happy to see him happy.

That’s how love works. 😉

(Side note: That purple shirt? Is my favorite. He wears it when we go out to lunch together every Wednesday. *sexy growl*).

I just added three more books to my Bookmooch inventory. I had to put my Bookmooch account on “vacation” for a while because I was mailing out so many books the postage was killing me! However, now I’m ready to mail out more books, so mooch away! So far, I’ve given 22 23 books away and have received 13 14 books from other moochers.

3. Devil’s Own by Sandra Brown
(The copy I have has a different cover. This is a reprint – would make a great addition to a Brown collection).

If you would like to join Bookmooch (or if you’re already a member, look me up!) and mooch books off of me, you can find my inventory and my account information here. My Bookmooch ID is: take2max – in case the link doesn’t work and you want to find me. 🙂

Sorry, I’m only shipping to the U.S at this time. International shipping just isn’t in the budget right now. 😦

I’m also on an active prowl for the following books:

*Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
*Slightly Married by Wendy Markham
*Ex and the Single Girl by Lani Diane Rich
*Nice Girls Finish First by Alesia Holliday
*See Jane Date by Melissa Senate
*”F” is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton

If you have any of these books in your Bookmooch collection, let me know and I’ll mooch them from you!

All you have to do is answer the questions below either in the comment section, or on your blog. And elaborate! Make these questions show your unique and special personalities. This meme entry will post at 12:01 every Monday morning and will be the first postentry listed on WFK all day Monday morning. (This is an all-day Monday meme, so please, play all day!)

August 11th Questions:

1. What is the last thing you attempted to quit? How did you do it and were you successful?

2. Are you a roller coaster sort of person (impulsive, takes chances, likes to live in the fast lane), or a merry-go-round sort of person (slow, steady, predictable, peaceful)? This is an excellent excuse to do a little self-analysis! 😀

3. Have you ever worn your slippers, or pajamas, in public? If so, when and why? If not, would you ever consider leaving your house looking less than your best? What do you think of people who do so? (Be honest, we all judge on some level).

4. If you could go back and tell your 13-year-old self one thing about the future, what would you say?

About Me

Hello! My name is Karen and welcome! I’m a mom to two young men – Blake (27) and Brandon (25). I’ve been married to the same wonderful, patient, thoughtful and generous man (Kevin) for 29 years.

I work full time in a healthcare clinic – it’s my “day” job. I squeeze in family time and blogging in between all of that. (Okay, I really spend the majority of my “down” time watching YouTube videos or trying to figure out how to play new board games for family game night).

I graduated from college with a B.S in Technical Writing – so I’m a wordy know-it-all, as well as a minor in creative writing – so don’t always believe what I write. *wink*

I believe in Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Writing Well. (I also believe in our Constitution – Don’t Tread on my Rights, Yo).

I can be snark-a-licious, but only when provoked or when confronted with ignorant, ill-informed knuckleheads.